HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS, ME?

 Just how holy and righteous am I to be?  My good friend and author of God and Human Wholeness: Perfection in Biblical and Theological Tradition responded to my last devotion (Sept. 25) with the concern that while it is true that God looks at the heart and honors those who seek God, we must not play down “innocent or hands” and “pure in heart” as impossible demands.  The Bible does not present such perfection as impossible; and, this is not just an OT command.  Jesus never lowered the bar.  Drawing on the OT (e.g. Lev 19:2; Deut 18:13) Jesus, in the “Sermon on the Mount,” commands, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48).

I think Christians, including myself, try to find ways to sidestep this call to perfection.  Some people who adopt the forensic notion that Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to them (that is, God sees Jesus’ righteousness and not one’s own sinfulness) can lead them to such a sidestep.  They are already righteous!  This belief may serve as a corollary to the “cheap grace” practice of coming forward at church and saying the “sinner’s prayer” so that one “gets saved” and will not “go to hell,” but their lives do not change.  Another example would be those Christians who uphold a form of Dispensational theology that actually tosses out the Sermon on the Mount as not applicable to Christians!  My best excuse for self-tolerance (better: self-justification) fits a pattern of seeing myself as not quite as bad as some of those other folk.

But God is serious about the call for God’s people to be holy (distinct) and righteous in their relationships with God and others.  God works through God’s people.  It is through them that others are drawn to Christ and find blessing, healing, wholeness in relationship with their Creator.  Again, and embedded in Psalm 24, is the key answer: the practice of seeking God.  Those who truly seek God will be moving toward such perfection.  They will have the heart’s desire to change, and they will have the efficacious Presence of God to enable that change.  From them will radiate what Paul calls the “fruit of the Spirit,” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22 – 23).

Lord, I want to be such a faithful seeker of you, your kingdom, your righteousness.  Help me.  Amen.

PSALM 24, PT 2: PERFECTION AND SEEKING GOD

Psalm 24 reminds me that seeking God is the beginning of the perfection that God wants.

Overview: Ps 24 consists of three movements: 1) An opening reflection on the sovereignty of God (1-2), 2) A “catechism” about who is qualified to draw near to such a God (3-6), and 3) a processional litany, probably of the Ark of the Covenant being brought into Jerusalem (7-10).  (See my devotional, Psalm 24, Pt 1, 8/19/23, for some background.  Translation below.)

The second section, the heart of the psalm, has a clear thought structure:
Vs 3) Question: Who is worthy to draw near to the sovereign God, to enter such sacred space?”
Vs. 4) Answer: The one who is completely perfect.
Vs. 5)  The benefit: such one receives blessing and vindication.
Vs. 6) The identity: The seeker is (the true) Jacob/Israel.

The answer, vs. 4, is the focal point of this section, and the whole psalm, because it has the most complex thought structure, using parallelism, opposites, merisms (a merism uses opposites to express a whole, such as “he cried day and night” or “praise God from now until the end of the age”) and chiasm (inverted repetition, such as A B C C B A).  This beautiful and meaningful poetic structure is represented below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes on the brackets:
#1) The psalmists list the positive qualities one must have and the negative qualities one must not have, creating a portrait of perfection.
#2) Merism: One “clean” of hands is pure in one’s outward actions, and one pure in heart is righteous in one’s inward disposition = completely pure.
#3) Merism: One whose inner being is not set upon something false and ephemeral (an image used of false gods), and one whose transactions with others (oaths, bond) is without deceit = completely pure.
#4) Chiasm (inverted repetition): the outer actions enclose the inner dispositions, again give the sense of completeness = completely pure.

Reflection:   Verse 4 sets up an impossible qualification for drawing near to God, absolute perfection!  No one qualifies!  Verse 6 is the key.  It is not simplistically identifying Israelites (Jacob = Israel) as meeting such perfection.  Rabbis understood that “Jacob” here stands for the “true Israel.”  The true Israel are the ones who seek God.  “Seeking God” is a key expression throughout the OT literature.  Seekers are people who have learned that they cannot depend on themselves.  They are humbled people who turn to their Creator for help, the Creator who is there to be “found.”  Like Abraham (Gen 15:6), seekers are people who entrust themselves to God.  These are the people of faith.  For them, the impossible (approaching a holy God) become possible by the grace of God.
Jesus, too, teaches the need to seek: ask, seek, knock (Matt 7:7-8); seek first the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33).  Paul presents seeking as God’s design for people of all nations (Acts 17:26-28).
Main point: Spiritual “perfection” in God’s eyes is the disposition of the heart: turning to, seeking, depending on, entrusting oneself to God.  Those are the ones graciously received into God’s presence.  They will also continue to grow in the holiness that God desires.

Lord, thank you for your unfathomable grace that allows even me to draw near.  May I always seek you and invite others to join with me.  Amen.

Side notes:
1) The evangelistic call of the Church is to present an invitation for those outside the community of faith to join with us as seekers, with we who have found God him in the person of Jesus and who continue to live as seekers.  “Evangelistic” crusades often miss this opportunity by presenting two alternatives: either “accept everything about Jesus that we just told you” or “continue your path to hell.”
2) A good friend of mine has written a sweeping scholarly but understandable study of perfection in the Bible and how it often has been misunderstood: Kent L. Yinger, God and Human Wholeness: Perfection in Biblical and Theological Tradition.
3) Part of my work with psalms has been to point out that the sections/verses that have the greatest poetic complexity should be considered the focal points of a psalm.

Translation:

Psalm 24  Of David, A psalm.

Proclamation of Yahweh’s Ownership of the World (Sovereignty)
1)  To Yahweh belongs the earth and its fullness,

the world and all who dwell in it;

 2)  for He founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.

“Catechism” for Approaching Yahweh
3)  Who may ascend the mountain of Yahweh

and who may stand in His holy place?

 4)  One innocent of hands

and one pure of heart;

one who does not lift up his soul to falseness

and one who does not swear deceitfully.

 5)  He receives blessing from Yahweh

and vindication from the God of his salvation.

 6)  Such is the generation of those seeking Him;

those seeking Your face are Jacob.

Entrance Liturgy
7)  Lift up your heads, O gates,

and lift yourselves up, O ancient doors,

so that the glorious King may enter!

 8)  Who is the glorious King?

Yahweh, powerful and mighty;

Yahweh, mighty in battle!

 9)  Lift up your heads, O gates,

and lift up, O ancient doors,

so that the glorious King may enter!

10)  Who is this glorious King?     

Yahweh of hosts;

He is the glorious King!